Well I have spent more time on this painting than any other. Partly because it is a person I know! Partly because I am trying to *complete* a painting. A painting that looks like someone I know. It is hard. :D

I have missed four days in February so not exactly painting every day, but still pretty good!

I practiced acrylic painting every day except one in January, and am on track to do the same for February 2019. What I have not done is finished many paintings. But they are getting closer! Virginia Woolf from my last post is the first acrylic painting I can say I am happy with, and is finished. YAY!

This post contains two works in progress – Toni Morrison and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. They are coming along pretty nicely. Learning to paint is a long process and often frustrating! But nobody can become a better painter (or musician or dancer or a lot of other stuff) without practice. The trick is just to keep going!

I spent the last week of January on the portraits of two writers, Mary Oliver and Virginia Woolf. The Mary Oliver one is not finished, but the Virginia Woolf may actually be finished. Which is a nice end to January 2019.

I can’t post the reference photo because this is the daughter of people I know! Just take my word for it, this doesn’t really look like her too much. But, I have spent three days so far on it, and that my be the longest I have spent on one painting. So that’s something. The multi-day paintings have been frustrating but I’ve tried to push on rather than give up, and that almost always leads to improved results. Which helps as a reminder for the next time. Because it’s every time, that thing where a painting is ugly for a long long time before it starts looking at least a bit like you hoped. :D

Hello again to Paint Party Friday! And if anyone knows of any other daily painting groups please let me know. Thanks for stopping in!

January paintings one, two, and three. None are finished! I’m not sure how many acrylic paintings I have actually like, finished. I think maybe none. So hello January 2019! I think you may be the month I actually finish an acrylic painting (or two) in addition to starting many.

Ok, so apparently WordPress has changed quite a bit since my last post three months ago and/or the WordPress update I just did this morning. Dangit. I liked it the way it was. Isn’t this always the case? I am just now, begrudgingly, used to the new Gmail. Grrr.

I can tell you these fish bones were painted under some duress. Already days late for a Secret Santa at illustratedatcs.com, the themes I had to work with included Corgi dogs, skulls or other anatomical type bone studies, famous artists, cityscapes. I found some nice reference photos for Corgis and these fish bones. And while some of you reading this thing may be able to produce art on a tight deadline, that is not a thing I have ever had much success with.

Perhaps as a result of completing these fish bones – at the fifty-second hour, til the wee hours of the morning (and including the mini Corgis in ink, below) – I should start considering myself someone who can, in fact, finish pretty decent work on a tight deadline. The stress though. Dang.

Here’s progress pics! And like every painting I have ever painted to date, I almost gave up several times. I actually started a new canvas, thinking I’d try a Corgi. But since I was already a couple hours in, I decided to try to finish it. Always try to finish it! That is important. ;)

New WordPress Gallery it seems! Bummer you can’t click on each photo. Progress pics of 8×10 acrylic painting. www.theslumberingherd.com

Ahed Tamimi, teenaged Palestinian Independence activist, 22″ x 28″ acrylics in progress. Because no child deserves to grow up in an occupied State.

Just a reminder, more than 90% of people are just like you. They want to live peacefully and with the ability to provide for their families. Hatred toward a particular group is stoked by those in power in order to keep their power.

Tons of progress pics. Of course this is a larger canvas and I have also spent more days on it. More time = better! So far, in my experience.

Read her speech from the Sydney Opera House All About Women Festival, March 4, 2018.

“I have proudly been called disrespectful for defying laws that disrespected me. I have been proudly called a corruptor for encouraging my fellow Saudi women to speak up for themselves. I have proudly been called a traitor to the nation and the faith for challenging the degrading narrative of women in our textbooks and teachings.” (excerpt)

Today’s portrait practice: Dolores Clara Fernández Huerta, the inspiring Mexican-American Labor and Civil Rights leader, winner of many local and national humanitarian awards. Originator of the phrase, “Si, se puede” – “yes it can be done” or “yes we can” – adopted for his presidential campaigns by President Barack Obama.

In October 2010, Huerta was awarded an honorary degree by Mills College, who lauded her as “a lifetime champion of social justice whose courageous leadership garnered unprecedented national support from farmworkers, women, and underserved communities in a landmark quest for human and civil rights”. (From Wikipedia)

11″ x 14″ acrylic on canvas. This is a work in progress! The space between her nose and lips is too long, for one thing, and more layers are needed to improve the overall skin tone. As with all the others, I may not finish it anytime soon. Or at all? I don’t know! I’m just happy to be practicing and trying not to worry about other things.

Based on this photo by Angela L Torres (printed and taped to my easel). I need to use my old Ipad for reference photos instead of printing things. One of these days!

Progress pics!

I have found a local painting instructor and (very) small class on Monday nights, starting this coming Monday. Hooray! I will report back.